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THIRD DIVISION
A.M. No. P-03-1733 :
ONOFRE M. MARANAN, Assistant Provincial Prosecutor, Cavite City, complainant, v. NECITAS A. ESPINELI, Court Stenographer III, Regional Trial Court, Branch 23, Trece Martires City, respondent.
D E C I S I O N
SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J.:
Before us is the verified complaint for an act unbecoming an
employee dated
Complainant alleged in his complaint that he is the prosecutor in Criminal Case No. TM-1709, entitled People of the Philippines vs. Eliseo Alarca y Nuestro, for violation of Section 16, Article III, Republic Act No. 6425,[2] as amended, pending before the sala of then Executive Judge Jose J. Parentela, Jr. (now deceased), Regional Trial Court, Branch 23, Trece Martires City.
On January 7, 2000, Executive Judge Parentela, acting on the Motion For Bail and Supplemental Petition For Admission To Bail filed by accuseds counsel, Atty. Gerardo Wilfredo I. Alberto, as well as complainants opposition thereto, issued an Order setting the incidents for hearing on January 14, 2000 at 9:00 oclock in the morning, and directing the parties to appear for the actual weighing of the shabu in question and to bring with them the weighing scale x x x, with the understanding that no further postponement will be entertained by this court.[3]
However, on
Respondent, in her comment, denied that it was she who
re-scheduled the weighing of the shabu on
Subsequently, both parties manifested that they are submitting this administrative case for decision on the basis of the pleadings/records already filed.
Deputy Court Administrator (DCA) Jose P. Perez, in his Report, sustained complainants claim that respondent acted beyond the scope of her authority. Thus, he recommended that this case be re-docketed as a regular administrative matter and that respondent be suspended for five (5) days without pay.
The complaint is bereft of merit.
The record shows that on
ORDER
WHEN this case was called for hearing, the public prosecutor and
counsel for the accused failed to appear for unknown reason, although the Order
of the Court dated
In the interest of compassionate justice, reset the hearing to
SO ORDERED.
Trece
Martires City,
It must be recalled that on
Clearly, it was the trial court, not the respondent, which
re-scheduled the weighing of the subject shabu on
WHEREFORE, the instant complaint against respondent Necitas A. Espineli is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit.
SO ORDERED.
Vitug, (Chairman), Corona, and Carpio-Morales, JJ., concur.